‘Zero suicide’ mission reaches out to 1 million

An anti-suicide campaign that ran for nearly six months reached out to a million people in the UAE, the organisers claimed on Wednesday. Conducted by UAE Exchange, the “Mission Zero Suicide” counselled thousands of distressed expatriates and also collected the signatures of over 200,000 people including some celebrities, they said. The signatures were collected as symbolical pledges from individuals to ensure that those who listen to the valuable messages of the campaign are committed to support the cause. The focus of the drive was on awareness about financial discipline that would help people avoid getting trapped in debts or tide over financial troubles, two reasons that have been mainly attributed to the recent suicides of many Indian expatriates. Campaigners advised workers on how to save money and live within their means. The services of financial and psychological experts were also offered in the campaign. A dedicated team from the money exchange firm that has been supporting the awareness programmes run by the Indian Workers’ Resource Centre (IWRC) spearheaded the campaign by conducting awareness sessions in labour accommodation clusters and Indian associations, socio-cultural and welfare groups. A 10-minute video that features financial experts and a psychologist who talked about the financial and psychological aspects of the social issue and the reasons behind it was screened at these venues. Primarily, the campaign began as a drive to discourage the Indian expatriates from taking the extreme step that many of their fellow compatriots have resorted to in this country where they flew in with dreams to build better lives. Expatriates from Kerala were particularly targeted since a high number of those who ended their lives here belonged to the south Indian state. However, officials from the company said the campaign reached out to tens of thousands of people from various nationalities. “The message has reached out to one million blue collar and middle income workers. We conducted the drive at 4,800 labour accommodations and 480 associations,” said Y. Sudhir Kumar Shetty, COO – Global Operations, UAE Exchange. The video was screened at 8,000 shops and 380 corporate offices reaching their 16,000 staff members, public etc, he said. “If we could positively influence at least a few desperate expatriates from taking that extreme step, we would consider Mission Zero Suicide campaign a success. So far, the results have been quite impactful for us to take this campaign to the next level,” said Shetty adding that the company would extend the campaign to other GCC countries. A. Krishnan from Bangalore was one of the beneficiaries of the campaign who was present at the function to talk about his experience. He described how he and his wife ended up in deep financial crisis after losing his job because they had heavily depended on credit cards. “No one was willing to help me get out of that crisis. After I read about the campaign in Khaleej Times in July, I approached UAE Exchange for help. They took up my case with the consulate and banks and helped me rework my dues. I can’t forget the support that I received from them at the time of depression,” said Krishnan who has now secured a new job. Promoth Manghat, vice-president – Global Operations, UAE Exchange, thanked the UAE Government, various consulate officials and professional counsellors for their support and guidance in making the campaigners’ efforts effective. Officials from diplomatic missions of different countries, the Dubai Municipality and the Red Crescent who supported the campaign were also present on the occasion. From : Khalij